Sunday, January 23, 2011

Reducing the Cost of Everything That Matters

For some time now, I have concentrated my thoughts on ways that America can improve the well-being of its citizens and accelerate the recovery of our economy.  Cutting the deficit is paramount.  Tax cuts, as they have been proposed in the pass, are not the solution, but part of the problem.  It is also essential that any recovery of our economy has to include the unemployment ratio of those not working and those who are working.

My solutions are meant to stimulate thought processes; I don’t portent to be a ‘solution guru’, just a blogger voicing alternatives to a status quo condition that is creating one of the most partisan Congresses to date.  Divisions within the Legislature body will solve none of the pressing issues facing our country at such a critical time - unity with a common cause will.

One of the issues is creating jobs – the lack of a cohesive plan!  My solutions are simple and have a long term effect on recovery.

1.       By creating a job skills program for Americans out of work for more than ninety weeks we:
a.      Reduce the number of people out of work.
b.      Increase the amount of taxes collected by the Government, States, and Municipalities.

2.      Subsidize the industries that manufacture ‘Greenhouse’ friendly products.  America is not the manufacturing nation that it was twenty years ago.  Outsourcing has destroyed the middle-class and reduced the number of minimum wage workers.
a.      Reducing the tax write-offs of companies that outsource American jobs increases the taxes collected by the Treasury and helps to ensure that we can support the working classes in their time of need.
b.      Remove the ‘political’ involvement of those government agencies that should be supporting the creation of jobs in America.  Chamber of Commerce President, Tom Donohue is very good example of how a certain entity is working against the welfare of the American people.

3.      Subsidize the industries that are developing new products and pharmaceuticals.  Those companies electing to use government subsidiaries to develop their products would be forbidden to pass on the cost of development and research of that product to consumers.  This would increase consumption and keep cost low for all of America’s consumers buying the end-product.  Targeted tax cuts push entrepreneurs to go where the money is and that is a good thing.

4.      The Health Care legislation doesn't, as it is currently written, meet the needs of all parties concerned and needs to be amended to keep cost down; however, it is essential that America have a national health care system because…
a.      The cost of Health Care discriminates against hospitals and the general public, in that; our hospitals can’t continue to treat all entering their doors via the emergency room.  Statistics have shown that those hospitals that are failing – going out of business - do so partially because of the cost overruns associated with emergency room patients.
b.      The insurance industry, with the support of Federal, State, and local municipalities, feels the need to protect banks, mortgage companies, and other ‘big ticket item’ producers and their investments.  Liability insurance protects the other person from a loss of property in the unlikely event that you cause a collision with another car or property.  Hospitals can’t turn away anyone, but absorb the cost of treating those that do not have health care insurance – a formula for failure, and yet, we ignore it!
c.       Preventive health care reduces the number of visits by everybody to medical centers and promotes better performance by the job force, thus increase production.

5.      There are other areas where cutting cost can affect the economy in a good way…
a.      Granting greater subpoenas powers to the FDA and EPA.
b.      Re-evaluating the ‘Most Favorite Nation’ status of those countries refusing to allow reciprocal access to their markets.
c.       Placing the weight of responsible on the shoulders of those who benefited the most from the Bush tax cuts to contribute more in the way of paying their share of taxes, instead of putting the full responsibility of reducing the deficit on the poor and unemployed by cutting services and programs that help the poor and disenfranchised survive this economic crisis.

Your thoughts? 


In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

No comments:

Post a Comment